The Ancient Egyptian Harp & The Adungu Harp of Uganda (1 of 3)

A detailed discussion followed by a live performance of an Egyptian folk song on the Adungu Harp of Uganda - almost identical to the ancient Egyptian Arched Harp, last played some 3500 years ago!

The Adungu Harp of Uganda is strikingly similar to an example of a suviving ancient Egyptian arched harp preserved in the British Museum this ancient Egyptian harp is made of wood, inlaid with bone and faience.
From the tomb of Thauenany, Western Thebes,
The Tombs of the Nobles, New Kingdom, XVIII Dynasty, 1534-1296 B.C.

For all details on the amazing instruments of the ancient world still being played in Africa today, please see the detailed "Historical Research" section of my website:

http://www.ancientlyre.com

Many thanks for watching!

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Ancient
• Egyptian
• Egypt
• Pyramids
• Harp
• Archaeology
• Uganda
• Adungu
• Begena
• Krar
• Africa

[Zekkary]

Amazing, love these videos! Anyways the only criticism I have would be:

1. Try and make the song a little bit louder and

2. Work on the tremolo picking at 4:33.

Other than that these videos are very great, informative and educational and you're great at playing all these instruments.

[Klezfiddle1]

@Zekkary Thanks for the feedback! I was a bit scared of using a faster, more vigourous vibrato, due to the very delicate strings this amazingly archaic harp came strung with...which seem to be some sort of silk or natural fibre (somewhat less robust than the nasty high tension nylon on my other lyres). I am going to have some serious fun experimenting with this lovely little musical artifact!!!

[rakkav]

WHERE DID YOU GET THAT?!? :)

[Klezfiddle1]

@rakkav I found it in Hobgoblin Music, Bristol! The strings seem to be some sort of natural fibre - I had a go at trying to tune it by ear to achieve that elusive ancient "just" tuning, which seem to be easier on these strings - the high tension nylon strings on my other lyres have too many overtones for my poor little brain to handle! How far off am I here, in my relentless quest to achieve just tuning, with my less than perfect sense of pitch???

[skellagyook]

The Egyptian origin of this instrument is doubted by some researchers. Bowed harps are fairly wide spread in west and central subsaharan Africa and may be indigenous (possibly derived from the native musical bow) . Unlike the Egyptian and Mesopotamian harp, the Adungu and many other central African harps are played with strings inward.

[leftysergeant]

A similar instrument is also played in Mauritaina called the "ardin." I it is traditionally played only by women. Men play the "tedinit," which is another form of the ngonni/xalaam/hodu, which are also clearly derived from the same Mesopotamian/Egyptian prototypes. Both are also used in modern musical styles. For an example of the traditional ardin style, I offer Ouleya mint Amartichitt. v=2PNgVzIL0yg. For a good jazz performance see Maalouma mint Meida. v=gq9NWtuXFpE.

[johngotting]

Thankyou. Klezfiddle.

[JacksonKBH]

cool!